Local News

NYC Has The Widest Income Gap Of Any City In America

(Lauren Evans) Bill de Blasio is going to have his work cut out for him in the event that he's elected the city's next mayor—New York City has the widest income gap between rich and poor than any other city in America. Duh.

Terrifically obvious data released this morning from the American Community Survey says the disparity between rich and poor New Yorkers outpaces the rest of the country, with poverty having skyrocketed by 21.2 percent from 2012, leaving a total of 1.7 million New Yorkers newly poor. New Orleans and Miami trail behind with the second and third highest disparities.

Manhattan alone has the widest gap of any county in the country, with the mean income of the lowest fifth at $9,635, compared with $389,007 in the top fifth. In the city overall, the mean income of the lowest fifth was $8,993, and the highest fifth was $222,871.